Memorial Day

Five Years!

Yes, once again, it's that time of year - Our Birthday! Five years blogging, five years of sarcasm, silliness, commentary and insanity. And once again, it's time for us to thank everyone who makes it all possible - you, the readers. Without your visits (over 9.9 million!), without your page views (almost 19 million!!), none of this would exist.

A special thanks to J-Fled and the policy group - your continued torturing of statistical data, insane management changes and slow organizational murder of the once proud Chicago Police Department provides us a constant source of amusement and material.

And a very special thanks to Mike Masters Masters Masters, who has spent thousands of visits and countless hours surfing our comment threads from home, work and Blackberry, looking for those elusive mentions that keep dozens of IAD investigators busy with pointless CR investigations.

And we finally get to wear one of these on our blog uniform:

A 5-year service bar, something we hope that certain superintendents and their hangers-on will never get an opportunity to wear. Again, we thank you all.

22 Shot, 1 Dead in Quiet Weekend

At least 22 people were wounded in shootings around Chicago roughly between noon Saturday and noon Sunday, including a man who died Sunday morning after he was shot in the head, police said.

Nearly half of the 15 separate shootings appear to be gang-related, including the fatal incident, Chicago police Superintendent Jody Weis said Sunday. At least two of the other victims have refused to cooperate with police, "which makes the job of our detectives ... far more difficult," Weis said.

We do have a question though. This incident is going to cause some head scratching at HQ:

At 8:11 p.m., a 47-year-old man who is possibly homeless, was shot in the right arm while standing on the street on the 29200 [sic] block of North Milwaukee Avenue, a Shakespeare district police captain said. He was taken to Norwegian-American Hospital in “stable” condition. The suspect fled on foot and no one was in custody Sunday.

If he's homeless (or apartment-less as our Patrol Specialist used to say - he didn't earn a house), his "outdoors" is effectively his "indoors," even if it's a box, underpass or bridge, and is his shooting therefore "preventable" under the new J-Fled reporting system?

And remember, every barbecue shooting Monday falls into the "outdoor" category. Watch yourselves as the beer starts flowing around noon and continues well into the night.

Texas-Sized "Whoops!"

However, remind a police officer in Corpus Christi, Texas of those famed Cookie Monster lyrics and they're likely to give you an annoyed look.

That's because a recently discovered cache of plants, initially pegged by officials speaking to local news as "one of the largest marijuana plant seizures in the police department's history," turned out to be a relatively common prairie flower of little significance.

Texas officers ultimately spent hours laboring to tag and remove up to 400 plants from a city park, discovering only after a battery of tests that they had been sweating over mere Horse Mint, a member of the mint family -- effectively turning their ambitious drug bust into mere yard work.

On the plus side, the park looked damn good after they were done,. And at least four "illegal immigrant" groundskeepers had to return home that day.

Ban Bikes, Rodeos

A Dolton man died Sunday morning after falling from his bicycle during the Bike the Drive event in Chicago, authorities said.

Witnesses told police that the man — identified as Larry Williams, 54, of the 14800 block of East Evers Street — was on the northbound side of the 2300 block of North Lake Shore Drive just before 8 a.m. when he fell, Chicago police Officer Dan O'Brien said.

Williams was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead about a half-hour later, the Cook County medical examiner's office said.

It was unclear what caused Williams' fall or his death. Police did not know if he was wearing a helmet. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday.

On the other hand, when bikes are outlawed, only outlaws will have bikes.

A man believed to be participating in a rodeo in an unincorporated area of Will County near Lockport on Sunday suffered a serious injury to his arm, which appeared to be severed, a fire official said.

The man was conscious and talking to rescuers as he was taken from 18249 S. Briggs St. to Silver Cross Hospital in Joliet about 5:30 p.m., Lockport Fire Protection District battalion Chief John Kure said.

Though the arm was still attached to the man's body, it was not immediately known whether the arm would be saved, Kure said, adding he did not know the circumstances surrounding the injury.

Next, the government will ban foie gras, transfats, salt and all sorts tasty goodies. Oh wait, they're doing that already.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Aldercreature Brainstorm

Hispanic aldermen pushing for a boycott of all things Arizona to protest that state's controversial immigration law might hit a red light.

Chicago's 189 red-light cameras were installed by Arizona-based Redflex Traffic Systems, which put in the cameras and road sensors. It also operates the software and mails out the $100 tickets along with photographic evidence of the alleged red-light running.

In 2008, the Daley administration signed a five-year, $52 million contract with Redflex that cut the cost of each camera system from $100,000 to $24,500. It also included maintenance for cameras installed after Oct. 22, 2008.

But the "proprietary nature of the technology" kept the city from including operations and maintenance for the 136 original camera systems. That's why Redflex has a separate five-year, $32 million contract just to maintain those 136.

We'd love to see these aldercreatures attempt to void a signed, sealed and delivered contract. And a boycott that would only cut Chicago money. Brilliant! And once again, the left-tards on the City Council demonstrate they haven't even read the 20-page Arizona law that only reflects United States law that has been in existence since World War II.

Judges Re-Assigned

Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans has reassigned four judges in response to a FOX Chicago News/Better Government Association investigation into courtroom work habits.

The investigation found the judges leaving their assigned courtrooms well before the 4pm out time ordered by Evans two years ago. One judge, Gloria Chevere, was found soaking up the sun in her backyard at 2pm on a day when her court call ended early.

"I do not want any unacceptable behavior of a few judges to undermine the credibility and integrity of our entire system of justice," Evans said in a statement.

We have to wonder, only four? Either Fox wasn't trying that hard or the BGA is operating, like everyone else, shorthanded. If the courts are that underutilized, it's time to cut the number of judges and courtrooms.

A Mystery!

So, considering all of this, we’ve noticed a BMW parked illegally in Boystown every Friday and Saturday night for the past several months — and it never gets ticketed for parking in a yellow curbed no parking zone.

But, two weeks ago, we witnessed two CPM meter maids working Halsted and saw the two approach the BMW, with one of them clearly being a trainee. The lead meter maid looked directly at the BMW, so that shot down the theory CPM can’t see that car. It did not vanish before our very eyes into BizarroWorld. The trainee started to write a ticket for being parked in the no parking yellow curb zone, but the other CPM agent stopped him, and we clearly heard the woman say to her subordinate, “No, you can’t ticket THAT car, stop filling that out”.

“I know that should get a ticket, but she won’t let me. I’m not allowed to write up that car, but I asked her, and she won’t tell me why,” is what the trainee told us. “I don’t know why I’m not allowed to write up that car, but she punched the license number into her box and it came up DO NOT WRITE”.

So the million dollar question is, "How do we get on that list in the parking ticket printer?" Imagine the connection there. Go read the article for all the details.

Serial Killer Caught?

Wow, we talk about a bunch of bodies being found in abandoned buildings over the past few years, point out that a serial killer may be on the loose on the south side again and 10 days later, there's DNA matches and an arrest:

A DNA match has led to the arrest of a man police have called the No. 1 suspect in the strangulation murders of three women in the Roseland neighborhood on the Far South Side.

The 24-year-old suspect, who lives on the South Side, was arrested Thursday outside his home, police said. As of late Saturday morning, the man has not been charged.

Not charged? We heard Anita's people want to interview the victims before approving charges. In any event, sounds like a good job by the CPD members involved.

Clearance Rate "Dips"

In Cook County, only about one third of murders since 1980 have been solved, according to a Scripps Howard News Service study of crime records provided by the FBI. Police solved only 35 percent of the murders in Chicago in 2008, the FBI records show.

"We'd expect that -- with more police officers, more scientific tools likes DNA analysis and more computerized records -- we'd be clearing more homicides now with more resources," said Bill Hagmaier, executive director of the International Homicide Investigators Association and retired chief of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. "But the clearance rates have fallen drastically."

"more police officers"? In what fantasy-land is this former feeb living? We're seeing layoffs across the board and hiring freezes to keep manpower down. And in just the past three years, the CPD alone is short around what? 400 detectives? And there hasn't been a class promoted off the existing list in over 2.5 years. We won't even go into the hatchet being taken to overtime budgets.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Lakefront Overtime

We're going to go ahead and take full credit for providing our readership with this opportunity. From the FOP website:

The Lodge was notified today that a new lakefront overtime initiative is scheduled to begin Sunday, June 6, 2010 and will continue through the end of August 2010.

This initiative is open to Police Officers pay grade 9161. Officers may sign up on the CPD Intranet site in the same manner as other overtime initiatives. Officers will have until Friday, June 4, 2010 to sign up for dates in June. Officers will have until Tuesday, June 15, 2010 to sign up for dates in July.

There will be day and afternoon shifts available. Anticipated start times are 1000 hrs and 1400 hours. Officers will be in full uniform and assigned to foot posts.

A FAX message with the complete details of the initiative is expected to be released some time this weekend. It was not available when this update was posted.

So the city would rather pay everyone time-and-one-half than actually make up the increasingly obvious shortage of officers on the street. We're not denying we could use the money in these trying times, but didn't we used to cover all of this just 10 years ago without breaking a sweat?

Threats?

A San Jose man left a telephone message threatening to shoot Mayor Richard Daley because of a position the mayor had taken, according to a criminal complaint signed on the mayor's behalf.

Christopher Traynor Fox, 39, is being held without bail at Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of making telephone threats against a public official, according to Chicago police and jail booking records.

An arrest warrant issued on Tuesday by Cook County Judge Frank Deboni orders Fox to be held on $1 million bail. Cook County prosecutors are requesting that he be extradited to Illinois, police said.

If this person merely quoted Shortshanks' inanities back at an answering machine, we're going to have lawyers splitting hairs and people wondering why the mayor can offer to insert a rifle in a reporter's ass and pull the trigger, yet this goof will cost the City of Chicago untold thousands of dollars to fly a detective or two out to California and back.

We sincerely doubt that there was an immediacy to the threats and we'd certainly like to hear if the goof had any access to firearms.

We Sense a Policy Shift

In Cook County, drug crimes represented a bigger share of felony cases than any other major county in the United States, according to a federal study released Thursday.

The Justice Department study -- a snapshot of 39 counties in May 2006 -- found that drug crimes were the most serious charge filed against 57 percent of felony defendants in Cook County.

Also in Cook County, only 9 percent of the felony cases involved violent crimes, the lowest percentage in the United States, according to the study. The percentage of property crimes and public crimes, such as driving under the influence, were in the average range among the 39 counties.

It doesn't say if the low percentage of violent crimes charged is due to low police arrest totals, or the far more likely unwillingness of Cook County Felony Review State's Attorneys to actually charge people with violent crimes, preferring instead to "CI" violent felonies or plea out violent felonies to misdemeanors. Seeing the large number of repeat offenders, especially on weapons charges, going through the revolving door of the courts, we're going to guess it's the latter.

Friday, May 28, 2010

May the work that I've done speak for itself

To the mournful cadence of bagpipes and the salutes of more than 100 Chicago police officers and cadets lining the street, the flag-draped casket bearing the body of Police Officer Thomas Wortham IV was carried into Trinity United Church of Christ on the South Side this morning for funeral services.

Moments before as the hearse moved down Eggleston Avenue, neighbors watched from their front steps and leaned over their fences watching the solemn procession, some wiping away tears.

At the visitation, Wortham's casket was surrounded by flowers sent from police departments as far as New York City. The officer wore his dress police uniform, his cap sitting on top of the coffin. Inscribed in gold letters on his coffin's inner lid were words that close friends and family members said the young patrolman lived by: "May the work that I've done speak for itself."

Hubris

Anyone want to see some top of the line hubris? Hop over to that Blog we don't link to run by J-Fled and his policy group lackeys. In the "Ask The Superintendent" section, we find this question:

I tried using the homan square gym as I have for the past several years. Unfortunately this time I was not able to get a locker to secure my belongings. There are guest lockers that always are taken and only a couple of people are using the gym. I talked to other officers who went to the gym and decided never to return because they could not get a locker. Can you contact the commander of OCD and have him take care of this issue.

Posted on May 22, 2010 at 08:10 AM

And the answer?

Superintendent's Response

Chief Brown has higher priorties [sic] than checking gym lockers. Here's an idea - go to a private gym. Chicago has quite a few, probably very close to your home. JW

Wow. Really? We recall J-Fled wanting officers to be in shape. Weren't there some POWER tests required to carry a rifle? We even remember Greg Bella asking for some refrigerators and equipment being placed in districts so officers could bring healthy food to work instead of eating out constantly.

Now let's see what else we remember. Private gyms experience rashes of thefts from lockers and such. Off the tops of our heads, we can recall 13 separate incidents of officers losing stars, ID's and guns from private gyms, not to mention cars after their keys were taken. Private gyms can be expensive, especially in a recession, especially when we still haven't seen a raise in 3 years and there's no guarantee Shortshanks isn't going to screw the contract approval process.

Finally, we remember Chief Brown was demoted by J-Fled, suffered a rather humiliating resume flap in Arizona, ended up in a number of court filings of a rather embarrassing nature, was re-promoted despite J-Fled's lack of backing and is currently running an entire division of the department into the ground. So while J-Fled didn't exactly lie about Chief Brown having higher priorities, he was a bit flip about it.

We understand the policy group actually answers the questions in J-Fled's name, but when it's your signature on the answers, it's your responsibility. If you page through the entire archives, there are a whole bunch of smarmy smart-ass replies to legit concerns. J-Fled really ought to have a talk with Ray-Ray, KB and the rest of the group.

Better hurry over there if you want to read it all - we know the Blackberries were going off all night telling people to scrub the more insulting ones.

Daley Murders English, Blames Burbs

Mayor Richard Daley and Police Supt. Jody Weis today said the city will work to make sure the beaches are safe this summer, following 22 arrests of young people who were fighting and causing other disturbances this week around North Avenue Beach.

"They text people, where people are going in congregation," Daley said. "So you make a number of arrests, a number of arrests were both city and suburban. We had a lot of suburban people arrested."

[...] Weis said that of the 22 people arrested Monday and Tuesday on the beach, 14 were suburbanites.

So they were suburbanites? Damn those suburban purveyors of mayhem and chaos! Where ever they go "in congregation" it seems, disaster follows.

We're assuming Barrington? Highland Park? Lake Forest?

Here's the thing - it's all smoke and mirrors that Shortshanks and J-Fled are blowing. It doesn't matter where they came from. The fact is they came here and caused problems and the Department is unable to react quickly enough to stop it. There's no deterrent effect in place.

Oh wait, there are the cameras installed today. That's going to be passed off as a deterrent. But as stated here and elsewhere, when was the last time a camera climbed off a pole and arrested someone? Cameras provide only a false sense of security. Without coppers to physically arrest people, cameras don't mean squat.

Curfew Violators to Parks?

Kids caught breaking curfew this summer in three high-crime areas of the city will be sent to Chicago Park District buildings instead of police stations to wait for their parents to pick them up.

Mayor Richard Daley hopes the trial program will give police a chance to present youths with alternatives to hanging out on the street. Parents of children younger than 17 found by police outside the home after 11 p.m. on weekends will have to pick them up at the parks, where neighborhood relations officers will be on hand to talk to them about community organizations and park district programs available for their kids.

"The park district buildings will be an easier place for young people to wait than a police station, and an easier place for us to communicate with the parents who come to pick up their own children," Daley said during a news conference at Ogden Park in the 6500 block of South Racine Avenue, one of the sites curfew violators will be brought.

Are park employees being paid overtime to keep the buildings open 24 hours? Is there a cutoff time? What about a "secure detention area" parts of the General Orders? Are these buildings equipped as such?

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Me Fail English?

"There were probably 50 squad cars, no exaggeration, 100 police officers or so, undercover [and] regular police officers. The beach was full with about 1,000 people and it wasn't your typical Monday night, lakefront young professionals," said Katie Ryan.

"They're isolated incidences. We look at it. We look at it very carefully. We make sure we have better lighting, we make sure we have access there, we make sure the beach patrol is out there as early as possible."

Police were out Wednesday morning searching coolers for alcohol. It's not allowed on park district property and Beach House employees say it's the root cause of much of the violence.

As yet another English phrase meets its untimely demise at the hands of the mayor, the smoke and mirrors campaign continues as J-Fled, Dugan and Keating slap another band-aid on the bleeding city.

HBT Shooting

The police Crisis Intervention Team and U.S. Marshals went to a home in the 6400 block of South Bishop Street about 9:30 a.m. to investigate "an escalating series of threats" related to the man's former employer, according to a police news release. It was not believed anyone was in the apartment with him, police said.

When police arrived, the man threatened police with a large knife, then barricaded himself in his bedroom, according to the relase [sic]. A Chicago SWAT team was called in, and after negotiations failed to bring the man out, police first used pepper spray and then a Taser on the man, who was still armed with the knife, police said.

The man then lunged at police with the knife and was shot, according to the release.

Shoot to Wound?

City cops are livid over a legislative proposal that could handcuff the brave officers involved in life-and-death confrontations every day -- requiring them to shoot gun-wielding suspects in the arm or leg rather than shoot to kill, The Post has learned.

The "minimum force" bill, which surfaced in the Assembly last week, seeks to amend the state penal codes' "justification" clause that allows an officer the right to kill a thug if he feels his life or someone else's is in imminent danger.

The bill -- drafted in the wake of Sean Bell's controversial police shooting death -- would force officers to use their weapons "with the intent to stop, rather than kill" a suspect. They would be mandated to "shoot a suspect in the arm or the leg."

The bill isn't given much of a chance to pass and seeing as how NYPD says their officers only have a 17% hit rate, enforcement is sure to be nonexistent. The last hit rate we saw for CPD shootings was around 15%, so it seems shooting under stress would be considered "poor." But this would be another example of people who have no idea what goes into police work legislating from a position of ignorance.

Concealed Carry in Illinois

One of the keys to securing a Right to Carry law in the state of Illinois is to inform and educate the public about the Right to Carry and how successful it is in the 48 states that have concealed carry provisions and in Wisconsin where the right to openly carry firearms for personal and family protection is recognized as lawful.

Many residents of Illinois do not know that 49 states have some form of right to carry law nor do they know Illinois is the last and only state to prohibit carrying a firearm for personal protection. With the media bias against the Right to Carry we cannot rely on the mainstream media to get the word out - we must take the message to the public and IllinoisCarry is doing just that with our Right to Carry town hall meetings.

No Superbowl Here

New Jersey? Well, they've got a brand new $1.6 billion dollar stadium to show off. The NFL waived the cold weather rules and hopes are that this might make the Superbowl a semi-regular visitor to the northern regions.

Of course, the new stadium seats 82,500 or more fans, meaning there is absolutely no chance of tiny little 67,000 seat Soldier Field ever being chosen to host the title game. We seem to recall a big push for a domed stadium here in town and the old stadium having at least 75,000 seats (you really old timers might recall the original configuration sat 120,000).

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Get Used to These Reports

An 80-year-old man shot and killed an armed man who broke into his East Garfield Park home this morning, police said.

The intruder, who police believe had a gun, broke into the family two-flat in the 600 block of North Sawyer Avenue about 5:20 a.m., said Chicago Police News Affairs [...].

The resident was awakened by the break-in and confronted the burglar [...]. The homeowner shot the intruder, who was dead on the scene, police said. The intruder was in his 30s...

On a side note, property crime stats in 011 dropped by 0.1% this morning. The media, Shortshanks and J-Fled see no correlation between these events, although a number of cops and detectives were seen smiling in the background.

Canines Targeted

Gee, you think that the big blue and white squad car parked out front might be a clue that a police canine lives there?

Police are investigating whether a pile of green rat poison found on the front doorstep of a Canine Unit officer's home Tuesday is in any way related to recent suspected arsons of at least two Canine Unit vehicles on the Northwest Side, Chicago police said.

The officer returned home in the Edison Park neighborhood about 4:15 p.m. to find a pile of green rat poison on his front stoop...

Targets of opportunity. Driving by a parked squad car late at night, bust out the windows or maybe torch it. You see the squad car there, run to the local hardware store, grab some poison, toss it on the porch. You might get lucky and poison the dog.

Captains to be Moved

And what was our brave and noble command staff doing while the media finally reported the fall of the lakefront and the murders of three honor students down the street from Rainbow Beach? They were getting ready to empty out the ranks of Captain via bad decision making!

(paraphrased from the original e-mail to protect the source)

SCC,

This meeting is going on as I'm typing around 1430 hours. A decision has been made to move all the second watch captains to first and third watches for "increased presence."

Dugan is having a coronary. Expect many captains to hit the medical or leave altogether.

"Increased presence?" What the hell is a single captain going to do that a third watch lieutenant can't accomplish? It certainly looks as if J-Fled and Shortshanks are determined to whittle down the ranks of captain for some reason. Supposedly we're short 15 captains and instead of promoting, the Department would rather be short another dozen or more? Amazing.

Four teen boys and two girls -- all 15 years old -- were arrested and charged after allegedly hitting an 18-year-old girl from northwest suburban Barrington in the face near North Avenue Beach Monday night.

The second incident occurred about 10 p.m. when two men jogging in an underground tunnel noticed a crowd going through the tunnel, according to a police report.

When one runner said "on your right," while attempting to pass the crowd, Laverrick Crews, 19, allegedly struck that man in the back of the head with his hand, according to the report.

They're attacking the joggers and the suburban tourists. We fear it's just a matter of time before Chicago ends up with a "Central Park jogger" type scenario.

Comments closed in this post - comment on all three posts in the 12:07 AM thread

Lakefront Problems

Can anyone confirm?

Once again, tonite saw over a THOUSAND gang bangers at North Ave beach causing disruption. Car 6 on scene in the middle of it, calling for cars.Groups of 50-100 bangers fighting. Yuppies running from the beach. Dugan called for cars on citywide to respond to the scene. And its only Monday night. The next accountability meeting for Bt. 1800 aint gonna be pretty. Lakefront is gone, say bye bye.

We've been seeing comments about the downtown wildings every weekend lately. Just two weeks ago, the Districts were picking up multiple armed and strong armed robbery offenders from the El stops. There was another under-publicized incident involving two young ladies beaten with a board.

Four men were wounded in two shootings about a block apart that police said were connected late Sunday and early Monday in the same Gresham neighborhood on the South Side.

At 11:20 p.m. at 8519 S. Hoyne Ave. at least one assailant who was on foot shot three men, according to Gresham District police.

At 12:06 a.m. another shootout occurred about a block away in the 8400 block of South Hamilton Avenue and police said it was connected to the earlier one because they were so close in time and location.

Investigators are looking into the possibility that it occurred in retaliation for the earlier shooting, police said.

So even with officers responding to a triple shooting a block away, the gang bangers felt safe enough pulling off another "shootout" a block away less than a hour later.

Odd Timing

Eight months after taking over Chicago’s legendary Maxwell Street Market, the Daley administration has more than it bargained for: a federal lawsuit accusing the city of allowing bargain “counterfeit” handbags to be sold there.

Coach Inc., a manufacturer of luxury leather products, is accusing City Hall of looking the other way while hundreds of Maxwell Street vendors sell knock-offs of Coach purses for as little as $18.

Late last year, the Daley administration terminated its $1.47 million contract with JAM Productions and opted to manage the market in-house with, what McDonald described as, a more lenient approach to vendors.

[...] City management turned out to be a financial boon to a clout-heavy security company owned by three of Mayor Daley’s former bodyguards.

We've been to Maxwell Street around a dozen times at various points in our lives and damn near everything there seemed to be either counterfeit, pirated or owned by somebody else who didn't actually know it was for sale.

But all of the sudden, the City takes over and get sued? It seems the City's "deep pockets" are about to prove a financial boon to some connected lawyers.

Global Warming is Over

You know how we can tell? It's not because no one is talking about it any more. It's not because the e-mails the American media refused to cover about "fixing the data" are suddenly accepted as factual. It isn't even that no one has taken pictures of thousands of dead polar bears.

Richard Sandor, an innovator in the Chicago futures markets, is selling out of the market for trading carbon emissions credits.

Sandor, 68, agreed to sell his Climate Exchange PLC to Atlanta-based IntercontinentalExchange Inc. for $606 million. His London-based company owns the Chicago Climate Exchange and the Chicago Climate Futures Exchange as a well as a similar business in London.

Smart money always gets out before the crash and Sandor is waaaay smart money. And smart money knows the global warming bubble is about to burst.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Mama Said What?

Lucille Floyd's son, 20-year-old Brian Floyd, was among the four men who gunned down Officer Thomas Wortham IV when they tried to steal his motorcycle late Wednesday night, police say. Floyd died when Wortham's father, a retired police officer, fired off his gun while trying to defend his son.

[...] "I don't feel like all those guys have to pay for that one mistake. You know, it was all a mistake on everybody's part, including the people that shot and the one's that died," Lucille Floyd said from her West Side home Friday night. "I feel like we need to let it rest and go on with our lives."

She stresses that the Wortham family has her condolences, but said that as an officer, the elder Wortham should have known how to shoot without killing somebody.

"For him to shoot them they way he did, in cold blood... because being an officer, I feel like he should have had knowledge of how to hit those children without killing them," Floyd said.

We beg your pardon, but what the fuck? Lady (and again, we use the term loosely), are you fucking insane? This isn't grade school. There aren't any "do-overs." You don't call back the bullet after it's been fired.

We repeat - you gave birth to a mistake, a waste of oxygen. Your mistake cost the Chicago Police Department a fine officer, a community someone who would have made a difference, and a family their son. God willing, the second offender is breathing his last and the other two will have a date with the needle someday in the future.

Tracking backward, you are an oxygen thief yourself. Do everyone a favor - get a shovel, dig a hole in your yard, bury your turd there and then leave town. Don't worry about watering the grave - we've got it covered.

Marked Cars Torched

The Chicago Police Bomb and Arson Unit is investigating the torching of two locked and parked police vehicles on the Northwest Side early this morning, police said.

The first instance occurred about 2:15 a.m. in the Big Oaks neighborhood, according to Chicago Police News Affairs [...]. In that case a marked 2006 Crown Victoria K-9 unit vehicle was set on fire, police said.

About five minutes later in the Jefferson Park neighborhood, an unmarked police vehicle was set on fire, police said.

a broken judicial system that gives probation for battery and weapon offenders instead of years behind bars, even when they attack police;

abetted by the media who play a notable incident thousands of times on TV (Abbate) without putting it into perspective (he never should have been hired in the first place, but clout got him through) or covering the fact that 99% of cops were appalled and disgusted by his conduct, and finally, implying he got away with something when he got probation, which is all anyone gets in Cook County Courts.

Here's what's really crazy - someone at Fleet mentioned that the one Canine vehicle has the windows replaced 5 or more times a year because the officer is required to park in front of his house, which makes it a prime target of opportunity on the major thoroughfare he lives on.

Area 2 is Falling Down

Another lovely bit of city building. Of course, Area 2 is quite a bit older than 018 or HQ or any of the other collapsing disasters currently in service.

Does anyone know if there are offices are located above this pillar? Because you guys and gals might want to make sure to (A) download these pictures and (B) make sure all your insurance paperwork and such is updated.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Daley Apologizes

Mayor Daley said Friday he regrets picking up a bayonet-equipped rifle and crudely suggesting sticking it up the “butt” of a reporter who dared to ask whether Chicago’s handgun ban has been effective. But, the remark had “shock” value.

The mayor said he was only try to “shock” reporters into shining the light on the havoc caused by gun manufacturers who represent the only industry that is never held accountable.

Really Dick? We don't recall you ever being held accountable for a whole lot of shit.

Did everyone see the video of this idiot?

Have you ever seen the look on some dork's face when he sees the bra advertisements in the Sears catalog? Or Butthead from "Beavis & Butthead" grinning and chanting "fire, fire fire!"

Two Charged

Two men have been charged in the shooting death of an off-duty Chicago police officer, gunned down during a robbery attempt outside his father's South Side home late Wednesday.

Paris McGee, 20, and Toyious Taylor, 29, were charged Friday with two counts each of first-degree murder and one count each of attempted armed robbery, according to Cook County State's Attorney's spokeswoman Sally Daly.

A third suspect who remained hospitalized Friday has not yet been charged in the death of Officer Thomas Wortham IV, Daly said.

The third is still hospitalized, so we can only imagine the ASA wants to hold off charging until they can interview him. Never mind the fact that he was shot by a retired sergeant in the act of murdering the sergeant's son and stealing a motorcycle.

Cops Houses Burglarized

A pair of home burglaries Friday in Chicago has police combing the streets. They're not typical break-ins. They happened at the homes of two Chicago police officers.

CBS 2 [...] reports that thieves got away with a 0.9 mm handgun, ammunition, a gun belt, a Chicago Police Department star and body armor vest -- all from one officer's home on the Southwest side.

About three miles away, also on the Southwest side, thieves hit another officer's home. Sometime between 4:30 a.m. and 7:00 a.m., they rummaged through two cars in the garage. Police say they took a stereo, a Chicago Police Department uniform shirt and name plate and a pair of handcuffs.

We don't know what to advise here - get a dog, a safe, an alarm, be aware you may be followed home. We are all targets. Be aware.

Asked whether Wortham's death provides a boost for the city's battle for what he calls "commonsense gun laws," the mayor said: "Oh, I hope so. . . . Here's a young man [who] served twice in Iraq. Father's a police officer, an unbelievable police officer. You better believe it. It does add [momentum], and it should. It should wake up America."

Let's just point out that even with the handgun ban in effect, Chicago's murder rate has remained higher than the national average for years and is climbing again.

And it would be pretty safe to assume that the gun that killed Officer Wortham IV wasn't legally purchased, wouldn't have been registered even if it was, and the person carrying it wouldn't have had either an FOID card or any so-called "liability" insurance.

And finally, let's remind everyone that the only two legal and registered handguns on the scene were the handguns that provided retired Sgt. Wortham a small measure of vengeance for his murdered son - and most likely, the service revolver is the one Daley didn't want him to ever be able to register upon his retirement.

Let us bury our brother in peace Mayor Daley. Then you can rot in hell for your part in turning this city over to the scum, dregs and non-contributing members of society who are given free rein to kill a man who served his country, wished to serve his city and worked tirelessly to better his community.

Aggravated Assault

During a news conference, a reporter suggested Chicago's gun ban has been ineffective, given the number of shootings that still occur in the city.

In response, Daley picked up a long rifle from among dozens of seized weapons the Chicago Police Department displayed on a table.

"It's been very effective. If I put this up your butt, you'll find out how effective it is. Let me put a round up your, you know," said Daley, who chuckled during the remark.

"But that's why you want to get them out," he continued. "You want to get these out. This gun saved many lives. It could save your life."

Leaving aside the fact that he stopped making sense by the fourth line, did he just threaten to stick a rifle up a reporter's ass? That's Aggravated Assault. Tossing in the "in a public building" subsection, that's another aggravating factor. You know, kind of like the ASA tossed in "public place of amusement" to jack up Abbate's charges?

At the very least, Shortshanks ought to be in for a 72-hour evaluation.

All Subjects in Custody

About 12:30 a.m., a woman screaming "That's my baby, that's my baby" was escorted to a police car. Police said she was the mother of one of the suspects.

Lady, and we use that term loosely, your son was a worthless piece of shit and you are a worthless piece of shit masquerading as a "mother." You spawned a worthless mistake who stole oxygen from the rest of society and contributed nothing but pain and misery over his short god-forsaken existence.

If there was any justice in this world, we'd be able to leave his corpse in the street and let the rats and crows peck at it.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Off-Duty CPD Wounded (UPDATE - RIP Officer)

An off-duty Chicago Police officer was shot late Wednesday during an apparent armed robbery, police said. Two other people were reportedly wounded.

The off-duty officer was shot about 10:30 p.m. in the 8400 block of South King Drive, police said. The shooting appears to be an armed robbery.

Chicago Police requested State Police assistance in locating the maroon Nissan Maxima involved in the shooting. The car was last seen heading northbound on the Dan Ryan Expressway (I-94), Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Anthony Hoop said.

He said three people were wounded in the shooting.

Prayers and well-wishes only.

UPDATE: Officer Thomas Wortham IV, recently returned from a second tour in Iraq serving his country, assigned to the 007th District (Englewood) and just home from honoring Law Enforcement deceased in Washington DC, was murdered when three offenders attempted to take his motorcycle. Wortham's father, a retired police sergeant, killed one assailant and wounded a second. The third is being sought at this time. RIP Thomas Wortham IV.

TRU Counting Buildings?

Is this true? We had a comment or three over the past day that said TRU is being pulled out of Districts and sent to check on abandoned buildings across the city? Is this really an efficient use of manpower?

Isn't there a District Abandoned Building officer assigned to do this? Aren't there Area-wide "Troubled Building Teams" out there rousting squatters, dope dealers, prostitutes and generating all sorts of business for connected Board-Up companies?

Or has the foreclosure crisis completely inundated the District/Area teams to the point where the Department can't do the job?

And does this data collection contribute to the "Indoor/Outdoor" number crunching?

Serial Killer Again?

Chicago police are investigating whether fourwomen found strangled in vacant buildings over the past two years were killed by the same attacker, authorities said Tuesday.

Three of the attacks are linked by evidence, while the most recent slaying last weekend fits the pattern, though forensic testing has not been completed, said [meri-clout-orious] Calumet Area Lt. Anthony Carothers [D-Ike (prison)]

The women have been found strangled in vacant or abandoned buildings in the Roseland and West Pullman neighborhoods, police said.

All of the victims have extensive "high risk" lifestyle choices in their past.

And due to a recent "reclassification" directive, supernintendo J-Fled has declared that these "indoor" homicides were unpreventable and there really isn't much the police could have done anyway.

Gee, Imagine That

Authorities recount run-ins with the man charged in the bat attack on two women in Chicago's Bucktown community.

ABC7 has learned Heriberto Viramontes has received settlements of thousands of dollars from the City of Chicago and Cook County in recent years. Those settlements were reached after Viramontes claimed he was the victim of police abuse.

Even though officers denied those claims, Viramontes received cash settlements totaling $18,000.

He attacked a female Cook County officer and got $2,000. He got $16,000 from Chicago following another incident where he was listed as the attacker, but the officer failed to show up in court.

The Chicago way - paying your criminals for fighting the police and then when the settlement money runs out, letting them victimize you again.

Shortshanks Readies Roadblocks

Within the next five weeks the United States Supreme Court will rule on a challenge to Chicago's 28-year-old ban on handguns. It's believed the court will rule that the law is unconstitutional. [...]

Conventional wisdom is that the handgun ban will not pass constitutional muster. Mindful of that, the city has been -- for some time now -- formulating plans on what it does next. The mayor says there are plans in place still being refined. But a strong hint of what Chicago will do requires only a look at the nation's capital.

On that score, the city is considering requiring gun owners to carry a level of liability insurance.

"You'll have to show that you have insurance before you can purchase and register a gun, somewhat similar to what you do before you buy a car," said Prof. Harold Krent, Kent College of Law dean.

Much of what the city is working on is still on the drawing board, subject to the specifics of the high court's opinion. Whatever Chicago enacts will be challenged in court by opponents who argue that local government is just trying to subvert the Constitution with ineffective hoops and hurdles.

So plan on the city throwing everything they can in the way of lawful gun ownership, wasting million more in lawsuits - millions they don't have - all so regular citizens can be victims in their own homes.

Oh, and J-Fled says there's nothing the police can do to prevent "indoor" homicides, so if you don't have a panic room set up, you better just die quietly and stop embarrassing the mayor.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Damn, What Bad Timing

We swear, the criminal element must have some kind of "turning their life around" radar, because it always seems to be the case when we find out some "former" criminal dead on the streets - or in car trunks:

As a volunteer with the anti-violence group Ceasefire, 28-year-old Hector "Smurf" Romero worked to stop gang shootings.

Now his family fears he was one of three victims of the Southwest Side's second gangland-style triple killing in a month.

Tio Hardiman, director of Ceasefire Illinois, said Romero volunteered more than a year ago for the anti-violence organization.

Working as a violence "interrupter," he mediated disputes in East Ukrainian Village, Hardiman said. "You need guys with street credibility and guys who can get in, make sense of madness and bring guys around," Hardiman said.

"Hector told me personally he was trying to go in another direction," he added. "I just wish he was able to reach out to somebody before this happened."

Every single time, they're on the road to "turning it around" and then BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM - they get shot 3 or 4 times with two of their closest associates and stuffed into trunks. It's almost like their lives were destined to end this way no matter how many times they tried to "turn it around."

Remember when J-Fled told the media (with a straight face) that we used to be able to go to gang leaders and tell them to "knock it off"?

Seriously? Indoor Outdoor?

Police Supt. Jody Weis knows that he will ultimately find himself on the hotseat for the surge. But, he’s got a new defense.

He's creating a new category of "indoor" homicides — and downplaying what police can do about them..

“Those homicides that are outdoors — the ones that I do believe we have a good possibility of preventing — we’re around 98 homicides for Chicago outdoors. That’s as low as it’s ever been, except for 2007, when I believe we had 97 homicides outdoors as of this date,” he said.

We're amazed he's already got the last few years of homicides divided into "indoor" and "outdoor" so he can readily rattle off the statistics for the media. How many man-hours were wasted dividing this info into categories? And how many of these "indoor/outdoor" homicides were actually domestics that spilled out into the streets after starting inside and ending up outside? We couldn't have prevented those either.

This reeks of desperate statistical manipulation and at least one aldercreature calls it as such:

Ald. Freddrenna Lyle (6th) has her hands full combating a surge of homicides in the South Side’s Gresham District.

[..] Not surprisingly, Lyle draws no such distinction between indoor and outdoor homicides.

“I understand the logic — that police would have no way to know about what goes on inside peoples’ homes. But, I don’t necessarily believe that becomes a separate category when you’re talking about the number of people murdered in a city. The average citizen doesn’t make that distinction,” she said.

And J-Fled is losing the reverends, too:

Rev. Marshall Hatch, chairman of the Leaders Network, said it’s “not helpful” for Weis to “make those kinds of distinctions” between indoor and outdoor homicides.

“Whether the murders happen inside or outside, we expect the police to take responsibility for solving and preventing crime,” Hatch said, pastor of the New Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church in West Garfield Park.

“I don’t think that’s a useful distinction for the superintendent to make. I don’t think it sends the right kind of signal about the sense of responsibility we want the police to have.”

How about the sense of responsibility your community ought to have there "reverend"? In any event, this is one for the books.

Tight Fit

The Toyota Avalon is classified as a full-sized sedan, a species currently occupied by such stalwarts as the Ford Crown Victoria and Chevrolet Impala. The Avalon manages to look smaller and sleeker than those slab-sided vehicles, thanks to a crisply creased character line that runs the length of the car and a handsome front fascia that extends to a sculpted hood. Like most big four-doors, the rear overhang seems excessive, especially considering that its trunk volume of 14.4 cu.-ft. is puzzlingly small for this class.

Three bound bodies have been found inside the trunk of a car in Chicago's Brighton Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side, authorities said this morning.

The bodies, all adults, were found by police in a Toyota Avalon slightly before 7 a.m. near 48th and South Whipple streets in an industrial area, police said.

The discovery comes a little less than a month after three other bodies, all men, were found in a Pontiac Grand Prix about two miles away in the McKinley Park neighborhood with their hands bound behind their backs.

Fitting three bodies in a trunk is no mean feat. We suggest the detectives begin looking for neighborhood Tetris experts, maybe start searching any nearby Tetris hangouts and Tetris bars. Tetris is a Russian invention, isn't it? Maybe enlist Patrick Daley's help in going through some of the Russian cab stands or vodka bars.

By the way, the Grand Prix has 16 feet of trunk space and the rear seats fold down for more dead body... whoops, we mean cargo space.

I'll Stay for a Pay Cut

Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis today said he hopes to stay on as the city's top cop when his contract expires next year, and did not close the door on taking a pay cut to make it happen.

"Those are all things the mayor and I should probably sit down and talk (about)," Weis said when asked if he would agree to a new contract that's less than his current salary of more than $300,000 per year, tops on the city payroll. "Like I said, I love this job, and I'm sure we can work things out if we come to that point."

"I'm open to anything," Weis said when asked again if he would take less to stay. "Like I said, it's a great job."

We're not sure which way the messages are flowing - from Chicago to DC or from DC to Chicago, but we're pretty sure Shortshanks doesn't have to fear a Federal Consent Decree takeover until after 2012. So he's got nothing to lose cutting J-Fled loose. He's got to decide how much more he wants to smack the Department around because at some point, it's a question of diminishing returns. The lack of proactive policing isn't really a matter of choice at this point - it's an impossibility just based on manpower constraints.

Quinn = Moron

Gov. Pat Quinn criticized the Prisoner Review Board over the weekend for the early release of a man now charged with murder, but he ignored a vital fact: While he says the board should have ordered Edjuan Payne held for six months, his administration recommended two, about the same amount of time Payne was locked up.

Payne was serving time for criminal damage to property when he got out last fall as part of Quinn's secret early prison release program, although he also had an earlier murder conviction. He was sent back in January for violating parole on the property damage charge by drinking alcohol and not properly reporting to his parole agent. He was freed in March. On Friday, he was charged with murder in Peoria.

So Quinn criticizes the Board, even though the offender was part of Quinn's own secret early release program? Wow. Anyone seen McCotter lately? Is that a target on his back?

Remember, this career Machine/Combine politician is campaigning on a platform of higher taxes, a business un-friendly environment and more debt/borrowing for our futures. Are you registered to vote in November?

Wasting Food - Wasting People

Opening statements have begun in the Iowa attempted murder trial of 23-year-old Derrick Roberts, a Chicago man who prosecutors say shot a woman because one of her relatives hit him with a doughnut.

The Chicago resident is also charged with intimidation with a dangerous weapon and willful injury for allegedly shooting 50-year-old Delores Smith of Cedar Rapids while she was in a parked van with other family members a year ago.

Prosecutors say Roberts riddled the van with gunfire because a relative of Smith's had earlier struck him in the leg with a powdered sugar doughnut she was throwing away.

Hey, it's a chance to see Iowa justice in action again! Let's see if they can actually get it right this time without being overturned by a higher court.

Unless of course, the victim has a father who runs a regional trucking firm. Then our money would have to be on the doughnut getting 20 years to life.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Bad Penny Keeps Turning Up

A Cook County judge has dropped an order of protection against a Chicago police department commander, her attorney said Monday.

Harrison District Cmdr. Penelope Trahanas was named in the order of protection after her former boyfriend, Matthew Jackson, also a police officer, accused her of telephone harassment.

The order was dropped in domestic violence court Monday by Judge Laura Bertucci Smith, according to Trahanas' attorney, Thomas Needham.

Needham said he presented more than 100 text messages as evidence that the break-up between Trahanas and Jackson was mutually hostile.

"Mutually hostile"? We guess that's one way to describe tire slashing and window breaking and lord knows whatever other drama never got put on paper.

Hey J-Fled, here's a hint - if you put people of questionable character in charge of things, bad headlines are going to continue to embarrass your boss. You've got this yahoo in charge of a District, you've got another doing armed field invasions of airports, scamming tickets and dragging your feeb buddies into their Rule 14 violations, and yet another who doesn't know anything about guns and drugs in a condo she owns, but hey, don't worry, we'll clear her in an investigation in under 8 hours while a cop has a 4 year old investigation come down (after being cleared in a court of law) facing 90 days suspension.

Chicago's first-round flame-out in the 2016 Olympic sweepstakes was still a boon to 13 six-figure executives -- with one compensation package worth $483,713-a-year plus a housing allowance and monthly cleaning service.

A federal tax filing released Monday shows that Chicago 2016 spent $5.9 million on salaries and benefits in 2009, including $28-a-month health club subsidies for roughly 100 employees.

The parade of six-figure executives was led by Chief Operating Officer David Bolger, with a $483,713-a-year package that includes salary, "retention" bonus and benefits and $7,871 in other compensation.

As stated here and elsewhere, someone, or actually 13 "someones," made out like bandits over the No-lympic fiasco.

A bunch of other people got taken for an Olympian ride. Failure pays pretty well in Chicago.

How Bad Will it Get?

Clearly the thugs shown in this video are not deterred or frightened by men armed with military style weapons--what makes you think they'd be any more deterred by soldiers manning checkpoints? Pointing a gun at a thug who knows you have no legal justification to shoot him does nothing. Do you want soldiers going through troubled neighborhoods house-to-house, searching for wanted criminals and illegal guns like portions of the south and west sides were Fallujah? I didn't think so.

Meanwhile the Chicago Police Department, increasingly stressed and stretched, scrambles from one crisis to the next. As resources are pulled from around the city, gang members in previously "quiet" districts become increasingly bold--witness some of the incidents in Uptown, or two recent shootings in the 2300 and 2900 blocks of Armitage Avenue. The suburbs are not immune to the violence, either, as witnessed by last weekend's fatal shooting at a late-night birthday party in Zion.

Chicago is approaching the point at which a disastrous collection of social problems, failed policies, budget shortfalls and manpower issues are about to collide. It remains to be seen whether the citizens of Chicago and their political leadership have the will or wisdom to do anything about it.

"Joe" writes over at ChicagoNow.com and admits to being a suburban cop/detective. His column "Arresting Tales" is an interesting take on things and delves a bit deeper than we usually make time for. Even he sees a disaster looming for the CPD. Go read it all.

Funny People

Reversing Cause and Effect

The playground across from Kendra Snow's Englewood home is littered with broken liquor bottles, potato chip bags and other trash.

The blue paint on the jungle gym is peeling, and its drawbridge is rusted. On a recent afternoon, a group of men congregated near the fenced-in swing set and drank beer as music blared from their car. On the basketball court, where a torn net dangles from a hoop, teenagers scuffled.

Experts note that playgrounds are arenas where children learn social skills and coordination, build muscle and stamina and are a place for kids to blow off steam from the pressures of school or home life.

When playgrounds fall into neglect, they become magnets for loiterers, drug users or gangs, repelling families with kids who might have otherwise played there.

Um, we think the experts are full of shit here. The playgrounds aren't "falling into neglect" and attracting scumbags - the scumbags destroy the park so that decent people can't hang out there. Dope dealers and gang bangers don't want families around, don't want old people out enjoying the warm evenings, don't want well lit, clean, attractive open space.

Detroit Tragedy

A sleeping 7-year-old girl was shot and killed when an officer's gun went off while Detroit police were searching a duplex for a suspect in the slaying of a teenager, a police official said.

Godbee said officers with the department's Special Response Team set off a flash grenade as they entered the apartment with their guns drawn about 12:40 a.m. Sunday with a warrant to look for a suspect in the Friday slaying of a 17-year-old boy.

The lead officer encountered a 46-year-old woman immediately inside the front room of the house and "some level of physical contact" ensued during which the officer's gun went off, Godbee said. The officers had identified themselves as police, he said.

The officers had a search warrant and were looking for a 34-year-old man suspected in the shooting death of 17-year-old Jarean Blake.

[...] Officers arrested the suspect during the search, Godbee said. Jones said the suspect wasn't in his apartment but one upstairs that officers raided at the same time.

Good warrant, murder suspect in the building, but someone who thinks they have a right to resist and attack the police ends up causing the needless death of a child. But guess who will get blamed?

Sunday, May 16, 2010

J-Fled Watch

CBS, the national CBS, gives Shortshanks all the rope he needs to hang J-Fled out to dry by comparing Chicago to Newark, New Jersey? Good lord:

Violent crime in this country has been declining in the past three years. Last year murder nationwide was down 10 percent. One exception to the trend is Chicago, where murder has become an epidemic. Newark, N.J., on the other hand, is turning its murder problem around.

Since 2007, Chicago has seen its declining murder rate start to creep back up. Meanwhile, [...] Newark, N.J., is seeing just the opposite - with a drop of 25 percent, it seems to be getting its murder rate under control.

"I believe every crime can be prevented," said Garry McCarthy, Newark's Police Director. "Every single crime can be prevented. You have to set the bar that high."

McCarthy is turning things around. March 2010 was the first calendar month without a homicide here in 44 years. In the first quarter of this year, murders are down 58 percent from the 1st quarter of 2006 - just before McCarthy took over. Shootings are down 66 percent.

McCarthy? Not the same McCarthy who was a finalist for the J-Fled job? The same McCarthy who left town a wee bit irritated that he had wasted his time coming to such a bullshit interview process that was so obviously fixed? That McCarthy?

It sure is nice to see him successful elsewhere. He might have met the same fate as J-Fled if he came here. Of course, the entire CPD might have benefited from having a real leader instead of the pretender we have now. It is interesting how things turned out.